# St Theresa [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GÉRARD, François]() - Date: 1801-1850 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 172 x 93 cm ## Commentary In 1819 Chateaubriand's wife conceived the idea of a charitable asylum for distressed noblewomen and priests fallen on hard times. It was christened the Infirmerie Marie-Therese, after the wife of the future Charles X. It was adame Récamier who took the lead in commissioning David's pupil Gérard to paint the princess's patron saint, Theresa of Ávila - most famous for her concept of 'mystic marriage' with God — and presented the picture to the new chapel. The painting was shown in the salon before being installed in the chapel. With its beautiful saint kneeling in rapt devotion, the work soon became as defining work of Romanticism as Delacroix's Sardanapalus, seen in the same exhibition. ## Related artworks - [Belisarius]() - [Caroline Bonaparte, Queen of Naples, and Her Children]() - [Corinne at Cape Miseno \(detail\)]() - [Corinne at Cape Miseno]() - [Corinne at Cape Miseno]() - [Cupid and Psyche]() - [Jean-Baptist Isabey, Miniaturist, with his Daughter]() - [Madame Récamier]() - [Ossian Awakening the Spirits on the Banks of the Lora with the Sound of his Harp]() - [Portrait of Catherine Worlée, Princesse de Talleyrand-Périgord]() - [Portrait of Josephine]() - [Portrait of Madame Mère]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()